Two girls, aged 13 and 14, have been jailed in an institution for juvenile delinquents after confessing to poisoning cookies that killed a boy at their school in northeastern Brazil, police said on Wednesday.
The 12-year-old boy died last week in the city of Recife after eating the cookies laced with rat poison.
The girls told police they had prepared the deadly biscuits for two rival girls in their school, and had called the boy over to deliver them.
“Since last year, the girls had been competing for popularity in the classroom and things got out of hand at this point,” the officer investigating the case, Mariana Villas Boas, said.
The death comes as Brazil’s Senate prepares a bill to force schools to boost safety to prevent violence and bullying.
The case follows an incident in April in which a 24-year-old man returned to his old school in Rio de Janeiro and opened fire, killing 12 pupils. His ex-classmates said he had been bullied and rejected by girls. — AFP